Why Does My Walking Buddy Itch?

By Julie Cantonwine

I cannot begin tell you how many of our customers at Healthy Pets Northwest deal with food allergies or environmental allergies with their dogs on a daily basis. Food allergies are a huge problem for many dogs, and continue to affect more than we even know about. In this article, I would like to touch on some of the most common allergies that affect our walking buddies and what you can do to help find some good, natural relief for them when it comes to allergies.

Some common symptoms of food allergies in dogs are itchy and hot skin, discharge in the ears (likely yeast, likely stinky), discharge from the eyes, hot spots, and open sores. The majority of pets that have allergies have food allergies. The most common food allergies are to wheat, corn, soy, or chicken. If you suspect your walking buddy has a food allergy, the first thing you want to do is eliminate all of the above right away. We call this an elimination diet. When eliminating wheat and corn from the diet, that includes some of the most common treats that we give our dogs like pizza crust, bread crust, and so on. Another popular treat that is full of wheat gluten are greenies. Once you have eliminated wheat, corn, soy, and chicken out of the diet, you should see a huge improvement with your dog’s skin allergy condition.

Some people ask me, “Why wheat, corn, soy, and chicken?” This is because the wheat and corn that we find in pet foods are usually the lowest of the lowest quality out there that has been discarded by the human food industry. So, we are talking, moldy grain and “parts and pieces” of grain — not actually the whole grain goodness that the package portrays.

Feeding foods that are grain free is a good idea if your buddy is suffering from grain allergies. If you feed dry food and you want to check out some grain free options, look at the following websites for more information on a good grain-free diet.
Changing your buddy’s diet should do the trick, but if there are still some underlying environmental allergies that are occurring, you may want to try a couple of natural remedies that will bring some relief to the itchy skin and goopy ears.

The first solution is an herbal remedy by Animals Apawthecary called “Detox Formula.”

The Detox Formula has several herbs, including milk thistle and dandelion to help support the liver while it is trying to deal with the toxins caused by the allergy. Another good idea is to introduce probiotics into your buddy’s diet. Probiotics are “good” bacteria that you can sprinkle onto your walking buddies food to help with digestion and yeast. Last but not least is a good EFA (essential fatty acid). This usually comes in the form of a fish oil.

Keeping it simple when feeding a highly allergic walking buddy works best. Most issues can be solved by the elimination diet. Also, feeding alternative protein sources is usually a better choice for an animal suffering from food allergies. Alternative proteins would include venison, rabbit, bison, fish, elk, beef, or lamb. Along with the food and supplement suggestions made in this article, sometimes an extremely itchy dog warrants some topical relief as well. There are many sprays, lotions, and shampoos that help irritating skin rashes or hotspots. Look for the “natural products,” ones with tea tree, aloe, oatmeal, and lavender and do not contain chemicals or alcohol.

In the long run, patience, elimination and lots of love should help you and your walking buddy get over the allergy issues and onto better things, like chasing squirrels and getting a good night sleep.

Core for Dogs:
www.wellnesspetfood.com

Barking at the Moon:
www.solidgoldhealth.com

Evo Red Meat Formula:
www.evopet.com

Orijen 6 Fish Formula:
www.championpetfoods.com

Julie Cantonwine is a founding partner of Healthy Pets Northwest Inc., a natural alternative for foods and supplies with three locations. Julie enjoys sharing her knowledge and experience with the communities her business serves and spends time off with her walking buddies, Brodie (Red), the cow dog, and Cezar, the pug. For more information visit www.healthypetsnw.com.